I hope that people recognize the tongue-in-cheek nature of the title. After working as a physician in various roles over a period of 20 years, I can state with absolute confidence that the answer to the question is ‘yes’. I’ve written numerous times about the writer/activist for the Salem-News.com web site, Marianne Skolek. I don’t … [Read more…]
Next month I will be presenting a paper at the annual meeting of ASAM, the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The paper discusses a new method for treating chronic pain, using a combination of buprenorphine and opioid agonists. In my experience, the combination works very well, providing excellent analgesia and at the same time reducing—even … [Read more…]
Weeks ago I posted a few new ideas—things like a memorial wall for victims of opioid dependence, and a ‘wall of shame’ for doctors who are known for reckless prescribing of opioids. I mentioned these ideas over at SuboxForum as well. I received good feedback from readers here, and from members there. Sometimes the best … [Read more…]
I saw a patient from up north earlier today, and we tallked about the economy in his part of Wisconsin and in the Michigan Upper Peninsula. From what he had to say, things are the ‘same old same old;’ i.e. jobs are few and far-between. Seems as if it has been that way for a long … [Read more…]
Oxycontin was not my drug of choice so I don’t know the ins and outs of abusing the medication. But I suppose anything that makes the drug harder to abuse is a good thing. The other things that are being looked at for approval are combinations of agonist with antagonist in small doses– for example … [Read more…]